Hiya!

It's Louise here, welcome to the fundraising page for my fiancé Rob and I doing Walk for ME 2015. For the third year running, we're doing Walk for ME and raising money for Invest in ME because they are a totally brilliant charity raising money for biomedical research into ME (the government don't give any funding for this) and also awareness of ME. 

Time and date TBC (will probably be the May bank holiday weekend as usual) but if you want to join us it would be lovely to have you with us, and we'll have a little get-together at ours afterwards. Maybe a BBQ if the weather is nice!

I'm 26 and have suffered from ME for a number of years now. If you know someone with ME you'll know that it's a horrible illness, but one that is still very misunderstood. I'm not one for wanting the violins out, because despite the ME I do have a pretty awesome life but it's always good to raise a bit of awarenenss. I know a fair few people reading this will already know just how much my illness has affected me, but if you don't - I'll tell you now, I don't just get tired. ME brings with it a huge range of symptoms - migraines, crippling pain, muscle spasms, food intolerance (I can't eat gluten), sickness, dizziness, brain fog and many, many more. Most of these you won't see when I'm out and about - I HATE people seeing me when I'm struggling, it's really not flattering, and so even though I am always experiencing symptoms of some sort, for the most part I can disguise it. ME is an invisible illness though, so even if I am struggling you won't always see it. 

I am very lucky because over the last couple of years my symptoms have settled down a lot and I'm only mildy affected now, however that has been the result of a lot of sacrifices - probably the biggest one being my career as a secondary English teacher. Both my PGCE and my NQT years left me very poorly with long hospital stays, struggling to do things that we would usually take for granted. My PGCE especially left me very severely ill and unable to get out of bed pretty much for six months, so I've just had to put teaching on hold for now with the hope of becoming an intervention or Special Needs teacher for 1-1 or small groups. 

I am able to now work full time as a Learning Mentor and that's something I will never take for granted - no matter how much I moan! And even though I live a very carefully planned lifestyle where I just completely rest from as soon as I get home, sometimes (maybe once or twice a week), if I allow a few days either side to build up strength and recover, I can do stuff like see friends. And having to wait a bit longer to get that strength makes the things I do all the more worthwhile! 

We're doing this walk partly to recognise my own personal journey. At my worst, I made a wish list, and over the last few years I have seen a lot of those wishes through; the first steps on my own, the first time I went downstairs, the first holiday, getting our own house, the first job, right through to this February seeing the Northern Lights which was top of the list and seemed almost certain to never happen when I wrote it down. 

I'm also doing this walk for my friends I've gained along the way, because they are a MASSIVE part of making this illness bearable, and I really hope that there will be the research one day which gives everyone that desperately needed cure. 

So please sponsor us, every small amount is massively appreciated, and if you want to join us we'd love for you to be there!

Louise and Rob xxxx

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